Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

US seizes Miss. properties

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Investigators with the FBI move boxes of evidence into a truck while executing a search warrant at Opus Rx pharmacy at the Jackson Medical Mall on Thursday. The bureau, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

Investigators with the FBI gather evidence at the Opus Rx pharmacy at the Jackson Medical Mall on Thursday. The bureau, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

Investigators with the FBI gather evidence at the Opus Rx pharmacy at the Jackson Medical Mall on Thursday. The bureau, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

Investigators with the FBI move boxes of evidence into a truck while executing a search warrant at Opus Rx pharmacy at the Jackson Medical Mall on Thursday. The bureau, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

An investigator with the FBI move loads computers into a truck while executing a search warrant at Opus Rx pharmacy at the Jackson Medical Mall on Thursday. The bureau, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

The FBI, in cooperation with other federal and state agencies, executed search warrants at several pharmacies across the state on Thursday, including one at the Jackson Medical Mall. Joe Ellis/The Clarion-Ledger

The U.S. government claimed civil forfeiture of multiple properties in the Pine Belt and other areas worth at least $11 million following an Internal Revenue Service investigation that uncovered alleged money laundering, health care fraud and other criminal acts.

"Based on the information obtained so far, the subjects of this investigation own and operate numerous pharmacies that market and prepare compounded medications," IRS Special Agent Darren Mayer said in a declaration in support for a complaint of forfeiture in rem, adding, "Many of the subjects have engaged in price rolling," in which a pharmacy submits a claim to an insurance provider to "test" the amount the provider will reimburse for a specific prescription, then canceling the claim. The employee then submits a claim for a compounded formulation to see if that is reimbursed at a higher rate.

According to Cornell University Law School, civil forfeiture rests on the idea that the property itself, not the owner, has violated the law. Unlike criminal forfeiture, in rem forfeiture does not require a conviction or even an official criminal charge against the owner.

Other techniques Mayer described include split billing (splitting a prescription into smaller supplies, then charging a dispensing fee) and automatic refills despite doctors' orders or patients' wishes. Some patients reported having received prescription medicines without having seen the doctor who prescribed them.

Some of the pharmacies allegedly billed for ingredients not used in the compounded medications.

"Many of the pharmacies are known to use affiliates or shell companies to hide their involvement from certain insurance programs," Mayer said in his statement.

On Jan. 21, the FBI served numerous search warrants across Mississippi, the result of an ongoing statewide investigation involving federal and state agencies.

Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics spokeswoman Dolores Lewis in January told multiple media outlets that the matter is a health care fraud investigation initiated by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and adopted by federal authorities.

The compounding pharmacy investigation includes nine warrants in Mississippi, one in Alabama, one in Florida and one in Utah, she said.

Hundreds of people were interviewed, and 24 vehicles, five planes and two boats have been seized, along with money from 80 bank accounts totaling $15 million, Lewis added.

No one was arrested in January as a result of the searches, which included pharmacies in Jackson and Hattiesburg, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Don Alway in an earlier story.

In closing, Mayer said in his declaration the investigation "uncovered evidence that the proceeds of the health care fraud and money laundering were used, directly or indirectly, to purchase the Defendant Real Properties" listed in the forfeiture claim.

Some of the properties sought for civil forfeiture include properties in the Canebrake subdivision and golf community; parcels in Sumrall and Purvis; some in Hattiesburg and Forrest County; properties in Perry County; numerous parcels in Tallahatchie, Madison, Hinds, Warren and Lafayette counties; and several in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana.